Forget the AP x Swatch Hype. Here Are 6 Black-Owned Watch Brands Worth Your Money

Scroll through any timeline this week and you’ll see the same thing on loop: the Audemars Piguet x Swatch “Royal Pop” collab. Eight Bioceramic pocket watches. A $400 entry point into Royal Oak design language. Lines forming outside Swatch stores before the May 16 drop. Watch Twitter is at war. TikTok is in a frenzy. Every culture account is running the same teaser images.

And look, we get it. It’s a big moment. Two independent giants. The MoonSwatch playbook running back. The hype is real.

But here’s a thought: while everyone’s losing it over a Swiss collab that’ll be flipped on resale by Sunday afternoon, there’s a whole lane of watchmakers building something quieter, more intentional, and a lot more deserving of your $400. Black-owned watch brands have been doing the work, designing, telling stories, and supporting communities long before the algorithm decided pocket watches were back.

Here are six worth knowing.

1. Talley & Twine

The biggest name in the conversation, and for good reason. Founder Randy Williams started Talley & Twine in 2014 with a dollar to his name after losing his job, building it into one of the largest Black-owned luxury watch companies in the world. The brand’s signature move? Removing the 12 from the dial, a quiet symbol of a new start. Bold, minimalist, accessible. Featured in The New York Times, Men’s Health, Essence, and Robb Report.

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🌐 Website: talleyandtwine.com 📸 Instagram: @talleyandtwine

2. SPGBK Watches

Named for “Spring Break,” SPGBK leans into color the way most watch brands run from it. Founded by Kwame Molden and designed in North Carolina, the brand is HBCU-made and draws inspiration from the founder’s hometown of Fayetteville. Each watch and band is named in honor of a school or community there. Oprah put them on her Favorite Things list in 2023, and they’re now stocked in over 300 stores including Nordstrom, Belk, and Nordstrom Rack. Perfect if you want a watch that actually pops on the wrist.

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🌐 Website: springbreakwatches.com 📸 Instagram: @spgbk

3. Asorock Watches

Named after the iconic Aso Rock in central Nigeria, Asorock is positioning itself as Africa’s first global luxury watch brand. Founded in 2018 by college best friends Ben Iroala and Andrew Mutale, the brand combines African-inspired design with Japanese Miyota movements, and they put their money where their mission is. Proceeds go toward building libraries and schools for African youth, in partnership with Books For Africa. Buying one is a vote for a different kind of luxury story.

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🌐 Website: asorockwatches.com 📸 Instagram: @asorockwatches

4. Vitae London

UK-based, philanthropy-first. Vitae London’s whole ethos is built around “Live Without Limits,” and they back it up. Every watch purchased supports a child through a year of education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The watches themselves lean minimalist and dress-forward. Featured in BBC, Forbes, and CNN. If you want something that looks at home with a suit but carries a real story, this is it.

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🌐 Website: vitaelondon.com 📸 Instagram: @vitaelondon

5. Benson Watch Company

Founder Marcel Benson, a Morehouse College grad and former consultant, walked away from corporate to build Benson Watch Company. The brand is known for colorful bezels, interchangeable straps, and a tagline that lives on every dial: “Time Should Be Spent Doing What You Love.” Featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Town & Country’s Top 25 Watch Companies to Know. Worn by Taraji P. Henson, Sanaa Lathan, and Kelly Rowland.

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🌐 Website: bensonwatch.com 📸 Instagram: @bensonwatch

6. Banneker Watches & Clocks

Founded in 2003 by Derrick Holmes and named after Benjamin Banneker, the 18th-century Black American astronomer, mathematician, and inventor who built the first working clock in America entirely by hand from carved wood. Every Banneker timepiece contains real wood as a tribute to that legacy. The flagship Black Eagle features Swiss movement and is a Joe Madison signature piece. This is wearable history.

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🌐 Website: bannekerstore.com 📸 Instagram: @bannekerwatches

The watch industry, like a lot of luxury, has trained us to chase scarcity. Limited drops. Waitlists. Hype cycles. And there’s a place for that. But when the same Swiss conglomerate is engineering the next “moment” every 18 months, it’s worth asking who isn’t getting that marketing budget, that retail real estate, that algorithmic lift.

These seven brands are building real businesses with real stories. Some are funding schools in Africa. Some are partnering with HBCUs. Some are reclaiming the legacy of a Black American clockmaker most people have never heard of. All of them are making watches you can actually buy without entering a lottery.

Royal Pop will sell out on Saturday. These brands will still be here on Sunday, and the money goes somewhere that matters.

MVEMNT take: Support is a verb. The next time a Swiss collab takes over your feed, save the screenshot, then go check out one of the names on this list. Better watch. Better story. Better return on your dollar.